The Successes of Gen I

[Argentarus]

Looking past all its flaws, what elements does everybody love about Generation I?

 

[Satoshi & Touko]

- It's the birth of the franchise
- It's easier money for the franchise (that's either a success or a fail depending on who you are)
- It's the generation of Kanto, the region that some of my favorite characters from both the anime and the games are from.

 

[RileyXY1]

The simplicity is one of the best things about these games.
Without these games, this franchise wouldn't be around.
The games were so monumental at the time.
Kanto was more nonlinear due to the HMs having not a lot of required uses.

 

[KyogreThunder]

-The fact these games have started the franchise
-A number of Generation I Pokemon, such as Arcanine, Ninetales, Starmie, Lapras, Gyarados, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Sandslash, Nidoking, Gengar, Victreebel, Articuno and Moltres
-The fact your rival actually becomes the Champion
-The region is fairly non-linear
-The fact you can get certain Pokemon (such as Farfetch'd) only through in-game trades

 

[raichu27]

• How Giovanni got to be the final gym leader.
• Being able to get multiple items with a glitch.
• The number of Pokemon that was introduced, especially Nidoking, Jolteon, Starmie, Alakazam, Charizard, Venusaur, Articuno, Zapdos, Machamp, Gengar, Snorlax, Sandslash, Mewtwo, etc.
  
• I grew up with it, and the anime for it.
• Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, and Koga as gym leaders.
• The towns.
• The first Pokemon game for the Game Boy.
  
• To name a few...

 

[Missingno.Fan]

-The fact it started the franchise
-Being able to purchase evolution stones.
-Being able to do the gyms in pretty much any order

 

[Kein]

Really, everything but the graphics and glitches (which most people didn't mind) was a success. It doesn't matter that there were improvements in later games.

So I'll focus on what I find positively unique about these games:

-Simple and intuitive Pokemon designs, as continued in the follow-up generation.
-Becoming the Champion was personal due to your cocky rival. You didn't just go through the motions out of habit.
-Team Rocket being like the mafia/yakuza and genuinely affecting the region in a believable way. That made them more menacing to me, especially regarding Marowak.
-The mystery of Mewtwo's backstory. The first movie filled up the holes, but it's obvious that the game story is different and yet largely untold.
-Moving around Kanto required some thinking.
-Pikachu in Yellow. It was hard to train but having it around was worth it.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

• Started a global phenomenon that is still going on strong
• Game is easy to learn but isn’t so easy that it can be completed in less than a day.
• Encouraged players to interact with each other to complete the Poké Dex
• Helped prolonged the lifespan of the original Game Boy
• The weakness chart was planned out rather well other than the odd instance that Ghost attacks did nothing to Psychic types and Poison and Bug Pokémon were weak to each other.

 

[Leonhart]

Gen I established the franchise and began my obsession with Pokemon, so that is my greatest compliment about the Kanto games.

 

[Monster Guy]

Without Gen 1, Pokemon wouldn't be where it is today.

 

[BTS_fan]

These games had the best rival ever. Blue was such a jerk but it worked because it gave me a reason to want to beat him. These games were also the only ones so far to give me nightmares because of the darker tone that the games had.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

These games had the best rival ever. Blue was such a jerk but it worked because it gave me a reason to want to beat him. These games were also the only ones so far to give me nightmares because of the darker tone that the games had.

Darker tone? The only dark part I can think of is the Marowak ghost in the Pokémon Tower and maybe Cubone’s Pokedex entry. BW were much darker than that.

 

[BTS_fan]

Darker tone? The only dark part I can think of is the Marowak ghost in the Pokémon Tower and maybe Cubone’s Pokedex entry. BW were much darker than that.

I meant things like the possessed Channelers, creepy Dex entries overall, Lavender Town's horror movie soundtrack and some of the nightmare inducing sprites.

 

[RedBlastoise]

Generation 1 gave the franchise its roots and set the standard by which future Pokemon games would follow. I think that even though the graphics were really bad even for a GB game, Red and Blue had memorable music and addictive gameplay.

 

[Leonhart]

I think that even though the graphics were really bad even for a GB game, Red and Blue had memorable music and addictive gameplay.

The game mechanics and game-play style were definitely contributing factors with regards to how the franchise became popular so quickly. I also think that the balance between cool Pokemon and cute Pokemon in Gen I helped to draw more people into the franchise.

 

[c1234]

It was where it all started. When I was a kid I thought that the world was endless just like in the anime. If a kid started with Gen 1 today I doubt that they would have the same appreciation for it that I/we did.

 

[TwilightBlade]

The best part of these games by comparison to the sequels set in Johto is that the pacing and leveling curve in RBY is much better than in GSC. Obviously Game Freak properly tested that before the games came out because you don't need to do as much grinding in these games.

 

[Sakuyamon]

The main success of this generation was the games because they were so addicting and I remember the Mew rumor being instrumental to the games' popularity too because it made people more interested in them.